Could the New York Police Department use a few extra cops? Ask any NYPD supervisor that question and you’re likely to get a question in response such as “Is the sky blue?” or “Does a bear have claws?”
The NYPD roster currently numbers about 36,000, or about 5,000 fewer officers than prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Every year the department hires new officers, but these new recruits are replacing veteran members who either reached or exceeded the 20-year retirement plateau.
The 9/11 attacks prompted the NYPD to rightly beef up its counterterrorism efforts. The most visible sign of this is the increased number of officers on patrol at just about every major event in the city attracting thousands of people. Working with the federal government, the NYPD has been tremendously successful in stopping would-be terrorists, including two Jamaica women indicted last week for plotting an attack on American soil.
But because the NYPD has a shortfall of officers, it bolsters its strategic field operations by giving officers overtime and temporarily reassigns officers from precincts around the city to cover large-scale events, including New York Mets games at Citi Field and the U.S. Open tennis tournament at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
These reassigned officers typically come from a precinct’s Community Affairs Unit, a bureau designed not only to ensure good relations between police and the community but also to address smaller, more local matters such as public nuisances (i.e. noisy parties, graffiti, etc.).
Moreover, reassigning officers away from local precincts also increases response time to local matters. You’ll hear such complaints at most precinct community council meetings in Queens, as residents often ask why it took so long for officers to respond to calls regarding noisy neighbors, fender-benders or other lesser situations. The NYPD always gives top priority to life-threatening emergencies — as it always should — but it stands to reason that local precincts would be able to respond to lesser situations faster if it had more available officers.
Even with the reduced manpower, the NYPD continued its astonishing crime reductions last year, including achieving an all-time low for homicides. But simple math and logic dictates that the increased responsibilities the NYPD faces — from counterterrorism to increased traffic patrols through the Vision Zero campaign — will eventually get the better of the reduced roster assigned to carry out these responsibilities.
No one expects the City of New York to break the bank and hire 5,000 officers overnight, but can’t we find room in the next budget for an extra 1,000 cops? That would add about a dozen more officers to every precinct in the city. It may not sound like a lot, but it would make a world of difference to the NYPD and the people of Queens it already serves so well.
